Communication system



May 3l, 19.32 J. HIRSHFELD 1,860,360

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM Filed March 8, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l f Eg! 20 kf: l

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COMMUNICATION SYSTEM Filed March 8, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTOR, Jarama E23' all,

BY I

Patented May 31, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT GFEECE JEROME HIRSHFELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO TELEVATOR CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEVI YORK COMMUNICATON SYSTEM Application filed March 8, 1932. Serial No. 597,475.

rl`his invention relates generally to an arrangement for facilitating verbal communication between portions of establishments such as restaurants and the like, and more particularly to the more effective employment of already-eXistinglchannels of conimunication such as already eXist therein such as a .dumb-waitershaft or the like.

It is a very common practise in restaurant construction, and particularly in what are known as lunchrooms, to have the dining room and the kitchen separated as for example by placing the dining room on one floor, and the kitchen or supply department on another' floor, and to have the channel of communication between the two established bymeans of aV dumb-waiter shaft or the like installed for dumb-Waiter and similar operation.

In such establishments, it has been the general practise hitherto for the help to communicate with each other by shouting` up or down the dumb-waiters as the case may be, and it is one of the objects of my invention to eliminate the necessity for a person who wishes to communicate from one place to a person in the removed section to be compelledto do so in a loud tone of voice, and thus carry on in an unseemly and disturbing manner.

My invention is to be distinguished from a two-way communication system in which there is a complete one-way communication vdirectly from as forexample, the kitchen to the dining room and another complete communication system as for example from the dining room to the kitchen.

It is another object of my invention to employ a dumb-waiter shaft `where present, as part of the channel of communication, and to eliminate the necessity of shouting into the shaft in order to make the communication audible.

It is a general object of my invention to provide a'new and improved system of verbal communication for lunch rooms, restaurants, and the like.

-For the attainment of' these objects and such other objects as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention in the drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a cross section through an establishment illustrating my invention;

Figure 2 is a wiring diagram showing part 55 of my communicating system;

Figure 3 shows in perspective, the amplifier on an enlarged scale;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section fromabove the amplifying arrangement of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the amplifier in open position.

Upon viewing Figure 1 of the drawings, it will be observed that I have illustrated my invention as used in connection with an establishment such as a lunch room, or the like, of the type in which the lunch room proper i. e., the room in which the food is consumed, is so located with reference to the kitchen or the department of supplies, that direct communication is impossible or impractical, and in this figure, the reference character l() is intended to represent the dining room, and the reference character l1 is .intended to represent the kitchen, or department supplies.

rlhe establishment is further illustrated in Figure l as having a dumb-waiter shaft l2 in open communication at one end with the dining room 10 as through 14 and at the other end in open communication with the kitchen ll as at l5. A dumb-waiter 13 is operatively maintained in the dumb-waiter shaft 12 for the conveyance of food and utensils through the dumb-waiter shaft, from the dining room to the kitchen and vice versa.

The system which I have just described is more or less conventional and in common use, and has been here illustrated as employing my invention, because it shows a practical application thereof in which it particularly serves its useful purpose, because it has been the practice hitherto in this conventional type of establishment herein illustrated for a waiter in a restaurant who wished to com- 9 municate with the kitchen for the purpose of ordering up dishes, utensils, or foods, to shout down the dumb-waiter shaft through the opening 14 loudly enough so that he would be heard in the kitchen l1 through the opening 15, and if the kitchen man wished to communicate with the dining room, he would shout through the opening 15 into the dumbwaiter shaft loudly enough to be heard in the dining room 14.

In the method of communication hitherto employed, the communication is delivered into the dumb-waiter in a tone sufficiently loud so as to be heard by the person in the kitchen or in the dining room, as the case may be, even though he be at a distance from the dumb-waiter.

The disadvantages of such a system of communication are obvious and need not be detailed here.

My system as applied to establishments of the kind herein illustrated by way of exemplification, contemplates that the communication be delivered by the mouth in a low conversational tone from the dining room into one channel and from the kitchen into another channel, both channels leading to a single amplifier and in its more specific application that the amplifier shall be so posi- 5 tioned and related as to employ thepdumbvwaiter shaft as part of the system of communication.

In Figure 2 of the drawings, I show in the form of a wiring diagram, the two aforementioned channels. The mouth piece 20, for example, is located at any convenient or desired point in or adjacent to the dining room 10, and Figure 1 is shown asadjacent the opening 14 leading to the dumb-waiter 1"; shaft. rlhe mouth piece is inA electrical communication with the amplifying unit 21 through the leads 22 and 23. i

In a convenient location in the kitchen, as for example, adjacent the opening to the dumb-waiter, I show the mouth piece 25 electrically connected to the same amplifying unit 21, as for example by leads 26 and 27. The amplifying unit in turn is an electrical communication with the loud speaker 23 which may be of any conventional or preferred type. The amplifying unit and the loud speaker 28 are both contained within the box like member' 30 as shown in Figure 3 to form the amplifier and in Figure 5 of the drawings, I show the lead wires 33 and 34 from the aforementioned channels to the amplifying unit and at 35 I show the lead from the amplifying unit to the loud speaker.

The amplifying box 30 is shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5 of the drawings, as provided with the chamber within which is received the loud speaker 28, the chamber 40 being illustrated as cylindrical inshape and open to the exterior at one side as shown at 41, and at the opposite side as shown at 42.

In Figure 5, the member which defines the chamber 40 is illustrated as carried by the door closure 43, which can be opened and swung about the hinges 44 to its open posi tion of Figure 5, and is so positioned that when the door 43 is closed, as shown in Figure 3, the member defining the chamber 40 will be brought into registra-tion with the opening 41.

I will now describe the location of the amplifier 30 for purposes of completing the communication system.

The amplifying boX 30 is shown in Figure 1, as positioned in the kitchen 11 and is secured to the inner face of the wall 45, which is the inner end wall of the walls which define the dumb-waiter shaft. This wall 45 has an opening 46 therethrough substantially of the same dimensions as that of the loud speaker, and through this opening 46 the loud speaker is in open communication to the dumb-waiter shaft to one side, and through the chamber 40, is placed in communication with the kitchen through the chamber 40 and the opening 41. The leads 22, 23. 26 and 27,

are shown as passing alongthe outer surface of the dumb-waiter shaftY wall 45 and as passing through the opening 4G in this Wall, for connection to the amplifying unit.

From this disclosure, it will be understood that whenever a person in the dining room wishes to communicate with the kitchen, it will be necessary for that person to speak into the mouthpiece 2O in a modulated conversational tone which can be even so low as not to be overheard by anybody else in the dining room. The impulses will then be delivered and taken up by the amplifying unit, amplified to operate the loud speaker 23, which will then direct the amplified spoken words into the kitchen, and the method of speaking into the mouthpiece 20 will, therefore, require only that amplification which is called for for purposes of mal-ring it audible through this channel to a person in the kitchen.

On the other. hand, a person speaking into the mouthpiece 25 from the kitchen will have the spoken words directed in its amplified form, by the loud speaker 28 into the dumbwaiter shaft, so that it can be heard through the opening 14 by somebody in the diningroom Vstanding in back of the counter, as shown in Figure 1.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. For use in an establishment comprising chambers located in different portions of a building, means for establishing a channel for audible communication between said chambers, said means comprising a voice amplifier, means in each chamber for operating the amplifier by the spoken word, and means for placing each chamber in open audible communication with the amplifier.

2. In combination with a building having two chambers in open communication with each other by a shaft, means for establishing a channel for audible communication between ilse said chambers, said means comprising a voice amplifier open to said shaft.

3, In combination with the building having two chambers in open communication with each other by a shaft, means for establishing a channel for audible communication between said chambers, said means comprising va voice amplifier open to said shaft, and means responsive to the spoken word for operating said Voice amplifier.

4. In combination with the building having two chambers in open communication with each other by a shaft, means for establishing a channel for audible communication between said chambers, said means comprising a voice amplifier open to said shaft, and means in each chamber responsive to the spoken word for operating said voice amplifier.

5. In combination with chambers, and a dumb-waiter shaft into which the chambers open, a communicating system comprising a voice amplifier open to one 0f the chambers and also to the dumb-waiter shaft, and voice operated means for operating the amplifier from each chamber.

6. In combination with a building having ,two chambers in vertically related fioors, a

vertical shaft for dumb-waiter operation eX- tending between said fioors and opening into each chamber, a system for verbal communication between said chambers comprising a voice amplifier positioned in one of the cham- I bers and opening into the dumb-Waiter and an electrically operated voice transmitter located in each chamber and in electrical communication with the voice amplifier.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

JEROME HIRSHFELD. 

